Jim Harbaugh shares what a national championship would mean to him

No. 1 Michigan is one step away from winning their first national championship since 1997 after their first win in the College Football Playoff in The Rose Bowl on Monday. Now, on the brink of the greatest accomplishment in their sport, Jim Harbaugh knows what it’d mean to his players.

Harbaugh spoke about the meaning of a national title to him following the 27-20 overtime victory for the Wolverines over Alabama in Pasadena. He immediately diverted that question off himself and aimed it more to his roster. He wants to see his players and staff become champions and then see the response from all their loved ones.

“It’s what it means to these guys, to our players the most. To them to be champions,” said Harbaugh. “For their parents to have their son be a champion. Their brothers and sisters, their grandparents. For our coaches, for my kids to have a dad be a champion. My parents. Just those people to get to feel what that’s like.”

Michigan played like champs during their game against the Crimson Tide with a ton of pressure on them and the outcome hanging in the balance.

After holding the lead through most of the first three quarters, Alabama managed to take control with a seven-point lead with five to go. That’s when the maize and blue answered with an eight-play, 75-yard drive in the clutch. That featured a pair of crucial catches from Roman Wilson, including the tying touchdown, with less than two to go.

Then, in overtime, RB Blake Corum went ahead put the program on his back. He pulled them 25 yards into the endzone in just two plays to open the extra period. That capped off the performance for Michigan after one more stop, one of several throughout the night, sealed it.

The Wolverines may very well earn that championship feeling come next week in Houston. They currently sit as more than a field-goal favorite over their next opponent in Washington ahead of the title game on Monday.

Still, for Harbaugh, he says it’s not about himself. He has, in some sense, already been there and done that in his career. To him, it’s going to be about Michigan achieving the ultimate goal and receiving all the praise that would follow.

“That’s kind of long gone for me,” said Harbaugh. “My joy, my ecstatic joy is for our players and our coaches and our fans and our families that they get to experience that joy of being a champion.”